Setting your goals for the season can be a difficult task with so much to consider. Do you set your sights on one major goal for the season, or do you set several small goals that you can tick off throughout the year? And if you set just the one goal, what happens when you complete it?
So instead of setting one big goal, or lots of little ones, I opted for both, building each into my plans for the year. I have one big goal for the season which is a race across Europe, but also several smaller ones along the way that will both benefit my training, and keep me motivated throughout the year as I work towards that one big goal.

So after much deliberation I managed to set the goals I think will help me get all the way to Istanbul this year and they look a little bit like this:

The Main Goals:

My first and foremost goal is to complete the Transcontinental Race this year; a gruelling 4000km, unsupported race across Europe from Flanders to Istanbul. The only aim is to finish this race! No more, no less. http://www.transcontinentalrace.com/

The second is to revisit the Coast to Coast Sportive, a 150mile route with 14,000ft of climbing and attempt to come home in Sub 8hrs. It's going to be tough, but would be a drastic improvement on last years disaster of a day! http://www.opencycling.com/coast-to-coast-in-a-day/

Something Else to Aim for:

Having set myself such a monumental first goal, the rest had to be crafted around training for the race, and so will help form part of the training plan and build up to the race in July. The rest of the goals look a little bit like this: